The Consumer Electronics industry in India, which was valued at $10.93 billion in 2019, is expected to reach $21.18 billion by 2025, clearly indicating that the expected growth is humongous. Most of the growth can be attributed to the constantly changing and upgrading lifestyle of individuals, increased demand from households, and easier access to credit facilities. Apart from this, there is also a hike in the demand from the rural market as the government continues to invest significantly in electrification and access to the internet.
Consumers now have multiple options to choose from, and this has led to multiple growth challenges for consumer electronics companies. The final buying decision for any appliance is dependent on multiple factors, including initial awareness, ease of purchase process, online reviews, past experiences with the brand, its value, and much more. Hence, the companies have to protect their existing market share and also plan to grow in the face of such uncertainty.
CX is going to play the role of a key differentiator here, and hence, the need for investing in a great customer experience across the buying journey is more important than ever. Companies are forced to rethink and recreate their CX strategy across the various touchpoints in the customer journey, from creating awareness to promoting loyalty and exploring the adoption of disruptive technologies to maintain a competitive edge.
Do you know that wide spending on CX technologies is expected to reach $641 billion by 2022 (As per the IDC report)?
In this blog, we’ll cover a few of the key challenges that companies are facing and their solutions.
Because electronics companies sell more than one product, for brands to get maximum revenue from each customer, they’ll have to ensure customers consider them first before going to a different brand. How can companies do that? By promoting customer loyalty. Unfortunately, most consumer electronics companies in the industry are struggling when it comes to driving customer loyalty.
A recent McKinsey study showed that the average loyalty of customers to the industry is less than 20%, which is considerably low.
Today, companies cannot buy customer loyalty just by giving offers or discounts but instead, they need to focus on delivering great service and effective communication. In fact, in a recent survey conducted by Vernacular.ai, over 80% of the respondents mentioned that the above two factors play a critical role when buying from the same brand.
Here are a few steps they can you can take to drive customer loyalty-
a. Proactive communication strategies, especially in cases of service, replacement delays, warranty, etc
b. Transparency while resolving customer queries or servicing their products
c. Use customer data lifeedbackers’ feedback to make the necessary changes to your products and services.
Retail touchpoints are still very important and can’t be ignored. About 75 % of consumers still prefer to visit an exclusive brand outlet (EBO) or a multi-brand outlet (MBO) to evaluate and compare brands. On average, customers visit two EBOs before making a final purchase, and the reason is that live demos, physically viewing, touching, and experiencing products are important and influential at the moment of purchase. A few challenges faced by customers in finding a brand outlet and learning more about a product from the store are:
a. Find the nearest brand outlet – Most of the information available on Google or Google searches is scattered and outdated.
b. Schedule an appointment – Consumers usually need to schedule a visit manually by speaking with the store owner.
c. Effective Communication – There are very limited channels that consumers can use to communicate with store owners.
How to tackle:
To solve the above problems, companies need to create a simplified mechanism for customers to get all relevant information at ease. thing that’s suitable for both tech-savvy and less tech-savvy individuals.
One of the biggest nightmares for customers is to get their products serviced. Where most companies promise to serve within a few days, the process ends up taking weeks, and this delay not only creates frustration among users but negatively impacts their brand perception. The reason for the same is that a lot of brands have outsourced their servicing to third-party companies. This has created a communication gap.
How to tack with le:
To give their customers a seamless service experience, companies need to streamline the process. They should try to make it easier for the user to schedule a service request. One method to do this is by using a single number for scheduling a service, updates, and learning other information, as multiple numbers can create confusion and make the process even more cumbersome.
In the mission to increase their sales, consumer electronics companies have forgotten the importance of being customer-centric. The customer experience provided by most brands post-sales is significantly deteriorating as they take after-sales service as a cand forgetting the corners. Brands often forget that a bad experience in claiming a warranty directly impacts key metrics like lifetime value (LTV) and retention.
Today, for brands to succeed, their organizations must meet the customer’s needs across the various touchpoints. They are required to create those “WOW” moments that customers may cherish for the future. Getting a product replaced/repaired or claiming a product warranty without any hassles with minimum brand interaction are a few examples.
Here are a few advantages of a customer-centric approach-
a. Increase in the CLV – Customer Lifetime Value
b. Edge over competitors
c. Boost the number of loyal and profitable customers
To avail of these advantages, companies need to thoroughly understand the behaviour of different customer segments and make necessary changes to their approach.
Voice bots can be used to schedule servicing/demo bookings, locate the nearest retail outlets, know the status of a product replacement request, and much more. The implementation of voice bots in industries such as banking, food & beverages, e-commerce, etc has resulted in increased CSAT scores and a reduction in call handling times.
It’s crystal clear that apart from creating quality products, consumer electronics companies need to focus on the customer experience. It’s the most important element that differentiates the brand from the competition.
Investing in providing a great experience at every stage would not only help retain more customers but enhance their overall revenue as well. Automation and the latest technology will play a critical role in helping them achieve these goals and balance human and automated interaction.
In case you wish to deliver superb CX to your consumers, you may book a meeting with us to understand how we have helped consumer electronics companies reduce their customer support costs by up to 75% or you may reach our sales team @ +919266108888
Learn strategies on how to convince a customer through chat, plus why Outsourcing Customer Service can enhance chat support.
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